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Making teens start school in the morning is 'cruel', brain doctor claims
Last updated at 00:22am on 12.01.07
Teenage pupils should start school in the afternoon because making them turn up in the morning is "cruel", a top brain doctor has claimed.
Professor Russell Foster said teens would acheive more if they were allowed to have a lie-in and not start their classes until the afternoon.
The Oxford University neuroscientist said grumpy teenagers like Harry Enfield's comic creation Kevin follow different sleep patterns from adults - making them more alert in the afternoon than in the morning.
And he said German and American schools which switched to later start times had experienced improved success in exams and reduced rates of truancy and depression.
Prof Foster said that forcing teenagers to turn up to school in the morning could result in more errors, poor memory, reduced motivation and depression.
Allowing secondary school pupils a lie-in on the other hand would improve performance in key subjects like English and maths.
"It is cruel to impose a cultural pattern on teenagers that makes them underachieve," he told a conference at the University of Wales in Cardiff.
"Most school regimes force teenagers to function at a time of day that is suboptimal and many university students are exposed to considerable dangers from sleep deprivation."
Prof Foster, Oxford University's head of circadian neuroscience - the study of how the daily routine affects the brain - said the time at which children become fully awake gets progressively later as they get older. The pattern continues until the age of 20, when it begins to reverse, making adults more alert in the mornings.
His comments back up research published last year which recommended that schools and universities should not start until 11am because teenagers were in a "permament state of jet-lag".
The American study found that teenagers' biological clocks run later because a hormone known as melatonin, which promotes sleepiness, starts to be secreted in the brain much later than in adults.
The researchers found that students' performance in exams also went down when they sat them in the morning compared to the afternoon.
Prof Foster said: "Teenagers' body clocks can be delayed between two and four hours and they don't start to function until 10am or as late as noon.
"Studies in Germany and America show that when schools have changes start times to later, exam success has gone up and truancy and depression gone down."
He said the problem was worse in Britain where many students work long hours in part-time jobs to finance their degrees.
But teachers' leaders disagreed with the Prof Foster's views - saying they believed pupils performed better in the mornings.
National Association of Head Teachers director Anna Brychan said: "Our members are interested in anything which throws new light on the best way of helping young people develop their creative faculties.
"But many teachers will say they find their classes infinitely more receptive to new ideas in the mornings than in the afternoons."
NASUWT teacher's union official Geraint Davies said: "Schools have been trying to tackle this issue for years but have found pupils are more attentive in the morning."
Reader views (18)
Some research in Australia showed that the body-clock of the teenagers can be adjusted so that they sleep at 'normal' times and are able to get up and go to school on time. The melatonin is controlled by light. Teenagers need to be exposed to light for the melatonin to 'set' the brain and the individual body clock. By exposing the body to light from the time of waking, it helps teenagers to go to sleep earlier and to be able to rise earlier. Lights are used when there are overcast and rainy days in winter. Once reset, the body clock works the same as it does for adults, and teenagers can get to school on time.
- Wendy Cater, Perth, Australia
im like a 7th grader and i do get sleepy in class all the time. its realy hard for me to get up at 5 but i always have to. i am a c avrage student cuz most of the time in class i am daydreaming or just stairing into space. sso ya that would be SUPER cool if we could go to school at like 11:00
- Ashley, u.s.a
every time i wake up i just feel so tired that i just go back to sleep and my parents have to throw me out of bed just to fall asleep i wish school can just start like at 8:30 and end at 2:14
- Gooch, United States
this is so true im always tired sometimes, when my alarm rings i say ugh just 5 more minutes so i press snooze and fallalseep then later i wake up and i only have 5 minutes to get ready and do everything! so i look like crap and i have to get something quick to eat, usually my family dosnt have any granola bars or cereal bars so most of the time i dont eat any breakfist, then wen i arrive at school i dont feel good at alland im still very tired and all i feel like doing is brushing my hair and teeth because i didnt get to do that and eating breakfist and lastly SLEEPING! isnt there anyway we can at least start school at 10:00am? ughh
- Manda, Japan
I AGREE with this because I am a 14 year old, A+ student and I still have trouble waking up for school. Most of the time I oversleep and am rushing to get ready in the morning. When that happens, I don't have time to eat a healthy breakfast so I usually grab a gronola bar and eat it on the bus. Then when I get to school, I feel all rushed and it's not a good way to start the day. Also, about a year ago I went to my pediatrition because I was getting really bad headaches and my hands would shake uncontrolablly. My doctor said that I basically just need sleep. Now, I try to sleep 9 hours, but getting so little sleep, for such a long period of time, has become part of my bodies schedule and sometimes it's very hard for me to fall asleep even when I am extremely exhausted. Take my advice and go to sleep at a desent hour. Don't let your homework, schoolwork, or anything else get in the way of your sleep time. It isn't worth it. You should ALWAYS put your bodies health first. Thats what is important.
- Kelly, Atlanta, Georgia
I know as a struggling teenager that I don't get the sleep I need. It's hard not to hit the snooze button and as teachers tell you " you should have gone to sleep earlier" I feel like saying well thats not completly in my control. Even doing homework on the weekends later I realize i'm much more awake and get better grades. My school starts at 8:00 a.m. and half the kids in my class are asleep 1st period. Even some in 2nd
- Riley, America
I agree with this, i was late for school and decided to go in the afternoon and i felt so motivated and done much more work than i would ever do in the morning.
- Curt, UK
Whether or not Professor Foster is correct, does the debate need to be about whether all schools should open at 11am or continue to open at around 9am?
- Louise Thomas, London
are there bad things about going to school at 11am than 9 am??
- Stanislav, toronto ontario
I personally agree with Professor Russell Foster's statement. I feel more tired and unable to think in the morning time, but the afternoon I start to feel more awake and able to think better.
"But many teachers will say they find their classes infinitely more receptive to new ideas in the mornings than in the afternoons."
Sure in the morning one may be more accepting to ideas, but that's only because they are too sleepy to protest them, or at least I know that's true for me. I'll agree to almost anything to avoid thinking in the morning time, it's also the time my parents can ask me to do something and I won't say "no" right off the bat. Because I just want them to leave me alone so I can close my eyes again.
- Allie, United States
I like prof Foster statement. Me personally at attending a high school find it very hard to function in the morning. Schools will find a dramatic increase in grades if they start school later.
- Zack Rogers, toronto, canada
I think it is a great idea for high school to start later, I wrote a paper on it and it would helps students a lot! It is proven that they get better grades and they need more sleep! Parents also love it because the unsupervised time is in the morning when the teens are sleeping and not after school.
- Dana, United States
Professor Russell Foster's observation about teens is okay but it will be more effective for kids and for their parents as morning hours must be peaceful and without any noise. As morning shows the day PEACE in the morning means a GREAT DAY untouched by depression/fatigue. Hope some good people help the kids of the world by providing them more relax moments in the morning.
- Ganesh Upadhyay, India
It would help with traffic congestion in rush hour and help working parents, if they started later and finished later.
It sounds mad, but if it works. Go with it.
- Paul Jardine, Bromley, Kent
Now what muppet came up with this one? As if kids aren't lazy enough!
- Jay, London
They should be made to have a big sing song before they start their work, that always woke me up in the morning!
- Isabel, Woking, England
Making anyone start work earlier than a couple of hours after sunrise is cruel (to say nothing of unnatural). Nevertheless, we have electric light, and the work needs doing.
Life can be cruel. Get used to it!
- Nigel, London
They'll get up at 10am instead of 7am, and be going to sleep at 1 am instead of 10pm. So what's gained? And with their daily cycle so out-of-whack with their parents' work cycle, the whole idea is nonsensical.
- Phil Jones, London UK
